Family will give hospital up to $100,000

December 26, 2001

ELMHURST — The family of a late board member of Elmhurst Memorial Hospital has promised to donate up to $100,000 to the hospital to encourage matching gifts next year.

Under this agreement, any new donations to the hospital's foundation from other families or individuals will be matched by the James Bell family, said William von Stein, director of the Elmhurst Memorial Hospital Foundation.

The foundation, the fundraising arm of the hospital, raises $150,000 to $175,000 a year, von Stein said.

"It's a wonderful thing for the foundation," he said of the matching gift program.

James Bell, who died in August 2000, was elected to the hospital's board of governors in 1983. In 1999, he was honored with the Governors Distinguished Service Award. He served on various hospital committees and repeatedly sold the most tickets for the governors' annual fall benefit dinner, hospital officials said.